Traveling To Kinsale

Not much happening today. We are driving from Tralee in County Kerry to our final week's stay in Kinsale, County Cork, that town the Whelan Clan likes to hang out in.

We had to drive through the passes of another small mountain range that separates the two counties, but this was all on pretty good roads.

Our only delay was going through a few towns along the way that were having busy Saturday morning activities. Here's the busy town of Macroom in the photo below that took us almost twenty minutes to get through since they don't have any by-pass.

After a break midway for lunch---pizza, of course---we got to our apartment in Kinsale with plenty of time to walk into town to pick up groceries for the week and do a little shopping.

And after Sue looked all these weeks for "just the right" sweater, she walked into the first shop we came to and found what she was looking for. She still can't believe it was that quick and easy.

With only a few photos from the day, this might be a good time to get back to the "Nuns Having Fun" book we saw in a Galway bookstore a few weeks back.

The book was just a series of photos of Nuns in enjoyable situations like riding go-karts and roller skating.

The book led us to believe that the people here might have enjoyed the article we saw in our Journal/Sentinel newspaper just before we left. It was just a small article that announced that a Father Antonio Rungi, a priest and theologian in Rome, was planning on holding a "Miss Sister 2008" contest where people could nominate and vote for their favorite Nun who would then be selected as the winner of the "Miss Sister 2008" contest on his web site set up for this purpose.

(How could you make up a story like this!) (And isn't it interesting that it's easier to remember the details of off-beat stories like this than being able to remember where I put my glasses this morning?)

Apparently, the priest earnestly believed that he would be honoring Nuns and there was something in the article where he was quoted as saying that "Nuns should be recognized for their beauty outside as well as inside."

Maybe the fact that he was a theologian put him a little out of touch with the rest of us, because it was only a few days later that a smaller article appeared in our newspaper stating that the "Miss Sister 2008" contest was cancelled and an apology was issued by Father Rungi if he had offended anyone. We assume that the priest got a lot of outraged calls/letters and realized the contest wasn't in keeping with the goals of many religious orders.

But in the few days between the first article and the second retraction, the thought did cross our minds that we should be keeping an eye out for Nuns in Ireland to nominate---with the hopes that they might get a laugh out of the story.

We were thinking of starting by asking our dear cousin (and author) Sister Josephe Marie if she'd like to be nominated. But, thinking it over, she might have said "no thank you" and then have felt the need to get a restraining order as well ;-).

Well, the "Nuns Having Fun" book gave us hope that it might have been a good "conversation piece" and good for a laugh with people we would meet on our travels.

We never did get to make any nominations for the "Miss Sister 2008," but we expect to see a discussion of the issue at the next "Late Night Catechism" play we see.

It also reminded us of a certain Sister Sarah from Dublin who came running into her Mother Superior's office, all out of breathe.

"Well, my goodness, sit down and rest," said the Mother Superior, "did you have trouble doing the shopping in town this afternoon?"

"Oh no, it was much worse than that," said Sister Sarah, " I was attacked in an alleyway by a drunken, old man with a long knife who said he was going to have his way with me and then told me to lift my garments!"

"Oh my goodness," said the Mother Superior, "and so what did you do?"

"I was so frightened I did what he said and lifted up my garments," said Sister.

"Oh my, and then what happened?" asked Mother Superior.

"Well, then he dropped his trousers!" explained Sister.

"Oh no, I'm almost afraid to ask, what happened then?" asked Mother Superior.

"Well, since I had my garments up and he had his trousers down," said Sister, "it was a real easy decision---I'd have an easy time running and he wouldn't, so I ran and got back here safe and sound."

(And that will be two "Hail Mary's" for any of you who thought this was going to be a dirty joke.) [;-)

Wrapping Things Up In County Kerry

On our last full day in County Kerry's town of Tralee, we are taking care of odds and ends. We walked a couple blocks from the hotel to a laundromat to have our laundry done and noticed a poor car that must have been driving down one of the narrow streets.

Thank goodness that isn't our rental car---but we've come close to that kind of accident.

You may not be interested in the photo, but we will be looking at it before each of our drives to remember to pull in our side mirrors when we get into any town's narrow streets.

It also reminded us of what the repairman at the auto shop was telling a car owner: "Well look, if I can't fix your brakes, I'll at the least make your horn louder." ;-)

We then drove over to the County Kerry Library where our friend from Knocknagoshel, Luke Keane, mentioned that the "O'Kief" books had a wealth of information, although it would be "a needle in the hay stack search" since the books had only a limited index system. 

We did a lot of searching, but didn't find any specific links on our Great-grandfather Mathew to the Kerry area.

Working up an appetite from all that research, we headed to Johnny Frank's Pub and Restaurant for some "pub grub" and noticed the sign over the bar that said: "Those Who Drink To Forget, Please Pay In Advance." ;-)

More good food as Sue had the roast pork and I had the Guinness beef stew. 

The TV's in the pub had live coverage of golf's "Ryder Cup" which started today. And all the TV sports news this week has been talking mostly about this Sunday's All-Ireland Football Championship. 

I had things mixed up in an earlier posting. County Kerry already played County Cork during the week. Kerry won that regional game and will play in the final against County Tyrone in Croke Park in Dublin this Sunday. And "Gaelic Football" isn't like our football, nor like soccer---it's sort of a mixture of both with a little rugby too that uses a different ball and has a different set of rules.

As long as we were in the area, we did a little walking around the town centre of Tralee and did a little window shopping, but still no sweater for Sue.

Before our evening swim at the hotel, we had time to drive back to Castleisland to look at the records of Sts. Stephen and John Cathedral, but the sacristant had just left for the day, as we were told by one of the parishioners who saw us knocking on the church office door. 

We were hoping to check on a little parish that had recently merged with this church. That little parish of Scartiglin/Gortgloss had a "Mathew Keane" listed on its rolls, so we were hoping to find more specific information.

So, we only lit a candle and headed back to Tralee.

Another large and beautiful church with a steeple reaching right up to heaven.

Which reminds us of an old man named Tom Keating from a little village nearby who died and went to heaven only to find that their was now a test to get into heaven. 

St. Peter explained that it was God's new policy, but was really based on all that a person had learned in one's life experiences on earth. That was little consolation for Tom who wasn't the brightest bulb in any of his church or school classes.

"You'll do just fine if you take your time and think long and hard on your answers," said a very positive St. Peter.

"The first question is an easy one to get you warmed up, but don't make a foolish mistake because God doesn't want anyone to be foolish," said St. Peter. 

"Now," said St. Peter, "question one is: 'What are two days of the week that start with the letter "T" ?' "

"Oh, I know that one, sure," said Tom.

"Now, now, take your time and don't make a foolish mistake," urged St. Peter.

Tom went right ahead and said, "The two days of the week that start with "T" are "today" and "tomorrow."

"Well, I can't exactly say you're wrong," said St. Peter, "but that's not what we had in mind, but we'll give you that one. And please slow down with your answers so you don't go wrong."

"Question two," continued St. Peter, "is how many seconds are there in a year?" God wants to know if you put your mind to good use, so if you take your time and use the pencil and paper over there, you should be able to come up with the right answer with careful work."

"Oh, sure, that's an easy one," said Tom, "I can give you that answer straight away."

"Wouldn't you like to be safe and use the pencil and paper to figure it out exactly?" asked St. Peter, trying to get Tom to slow down.

"No, that's okay," said Tom, "the number of seconds in a year are '12'. That would be 'the second of January,' 'the second of February,' 'the second of March,' and so on."

"Oh my," said St. Peter, "I guess you're right in a sense, so I can't say you're wrong, but please slow down and think things through because the third question is the toughest."

"I will be careful," said Tom as he began to feel rather proud of his efforts thus far.

"Question three," said St. Peter, "is what is God's first name? You should know this because, if you were a good person, you're guardian angel would have whispered His first name in your ear while you were sleeping." St. Peter went on to say, "So, 

p-l-e-a-s-e stop and think about your answer to see if it's up there in your memory banks."

"Oh, I don't think that will be hard to answer," said Tom, "I may have had lots of reminders by listening to the choir while I prayed."

Without much thought, Tom said, "God's first name is 'Andrew,' or 'Andy,' for short.  I've heard our choir sing it out many times."

"It goes like this," Tom said as he proceeded to sing out, 

"And he walks with me, 

And he talks with me, 

And he tells me I am his own...'."

"Oh, go ahead, you're in," said St. Peter.  ;-)

Killarney And The Ring of Kerry

We thought we'd take a short drive down to the town of Killarney today, and along the way we got the idea to drive the famous "Ring of Kerry" that basically begins and ends in Killarney. The drive is like the scenic drive we took yesterday around Slea Head on the Dingle Peninsula.

We basically knew the route since we had taken the drive two years ago on a guided bus tour. But that time it was rain and fog most of the day, so we didn't get to see a whole lot.

Today was partly sunny/partly cloudy with good visibility except for a little haze in the distance. We headed out to the first landmark, the town of Kilorgan where Regina and her "Coffey" clan are believed to have come from.

This is the town that has the "Puck Fair" every year in August where they hoist a goat in a cage up a flagpole and make him king of the fair. Just across the bridge is the lovely Coffey Pub and Restaurant.

We didn't realize it at the time, but when we downloaded the photo below we discovered a fly fisherman in the river below the bridge as we crossed into Kilorgan.

The "Ring of Kerry" drive is like the Slea Head drive in many parts where you have the mountains on one side and the Atlantic on the other side. The tour book recommends that you go round the peninsula in a counter-clockwise (anti-clockwise over here) direction so that you aren't meeting tour buses head on that usually come down the middle of the narrow parts of the road. (This way you only get stuck behind them from time to time.)

The roads are very nice---in parts. It looks like they've made many improvements to this popular tourist drive in recent years.

Across Dingle Bay in the photo below, is the Dingle Peninsula where we were yesterday touring Dingle Town and Slea Head.

The mountains are quite impressive too. No snow-capped Rocky Mountains, but good-sized, "small" mountains.

It's mostly rocky fields for grazing sheep with a few larger fields here and there.

On parts of the drive, you get up quite high and get to stop at scenic views to see the tiny houses and fields below.

When the sun would break through, we'd get a very bright Atlantic on another calm day at sea.

In the little town of Waterville, we got to greet Charlie Chaplin who was a regular vacationer in this town during his later years.

The biggest obstacle of the day was all the tour buses, large and small, that fortunately pulled over at tourist/art/craft shops along the way so we that we could get by them.

The sheep were only small obstacles, compared to the buses, but they would stroll out into the road from time to time.

At least the cows knew enough to stay on their side of the fence, even if they were curious to see two "Yanks"---as we are sometimes called.

The last part of the drive takes you through the Killarney National Park.

There are deep woods with hiking trails and a series of lakes that lead back to Killarney.

Even a few fishermen on one of the lakes, or probably just tourists out for a tour.

The roads get curvy and narrow through the area with many large rock outcrops.

I tried to tell Sue this was Ireland's  "Tunnel of Love" in the photo below, but she just said I'd better keep my eyes on the road ;-).

When we got back to Killarney there was only one "jaunting cart" left to take a ride in, but we were too hungry anyway and just went to an early supper.

Killarney is a busy tourist town and we took the opportunity to do a little more shopping, but Sue can't find the "just right" sweater.

And we noticed that many stores are already gearing up for Halloween which is a big holiday in Ireland going back to prehistoric times where bonfires were lit and celebrations noted the end of the growing season, the shortening of the day's length, and the weakening of the sun's rays.

We'd like to proudly note that we are not getting lost nearly as often as we did in previous years, but it's probably due to the fact that we have a "GPS" along to help us through.

It makes you feel kind of dumb when the voice on the GPS tells you the right way to go instead of the way you had in mind---but it's worth it to get on your way faster and easier.

Which reminds us that we've been told that there are dumb blondes even over here in Ireland.

One of these blondes called up her boyfriend in tears and said, "You've got to come over to my apartment and help me put together this jigsaw puzzle that my friends at work gave me. All the pieces are the same and I can't figure out what its supposed to be."

"Well, just look on the cover of the box that the puzzle came in and you should be able to figure out what it's supposed to be and then you slowly lay out the pieces to fit," her boyfriend suggested.

"No, no, no," the blonde said, "it looks like "a rooster" on the box, but the pieces all look the same---you've got to get over here and help me!"

So the boyfriend headed over to the blonde's apartment to help and when he got there he said, "I think the people you work with were having a little fun with you. I'll explain the whole thing to you in a minute, but first let's put all these corn flakes on the table back in the box."

;-)

Back To The Dingle Peninsula

We finally got a "clear blue sky" and thought it would be a good day to return to one of our favorite towns and drives out to the Dingle Peninsula for the town of Dingle (An Daingean = on dagh-n) and the "Slea Head Drive" (sleigh head) around the end of the peninsula.

With the clearer sky, we actually got a much better view of the "Slieve Mish" Mountain Range that we can see out of our hotel window---a small-sized mountain range, but substantial.

The drive from Tralee out to Dingle isn't all that far and takes you along Brandon Bay---which, along with the Brandon Mountain that is there too, must be named after our grand-nephew, Brandon ;-). (Must be nice to have a bay and a mountain named after you.)

All along the way are more of the big fields for grazing and cropping.

But as you get further out on the Dingle Peninsula, things start getting a lot more rocky with only grazing for sure-footed sheep that you can see on the lower right side of the photo below, with their blue staining to show ownership.

Then, after you go through the town of Dingle and start the "Slea Head Drive," you get to see more of the Atlantic as you get closer to the edge of the peninsula. Still a bit of haze in the sky, but the water was extremely calm.

We think the same seagull was there to greet us that we had seen here last year. In the distance in the photo below, you can see the peninsula that is called "The Ring of Kerry" that is another scenic drive.

As we got closer to the end of the peninsula on the "Slea Head Drive," the road winds and narrows so that you feel very close to the sea below and the mountain above.

At the very end of the peninsula is "Slea Head" and they've marked the spot with religious statuary.

As you continue around the end of the peninsula, the road continues its curvy and narrow way.

Out from the end of the peninsula are the "Blasket Islands" which were still occupied by some hardy families up until the 1950's. They still offer ferry rides to the islands for guided tours of the abandoned community and the vast range of birds nesting on the islands---although we only saw sea gulls along our drive.

There was a lovely, sheltered beach just past the end of the peninsula as well. We could make out a small sailboat and a surfer just out from the beach.

The mountain on the other side of the peninsula has few steep rocks sides and more of the steep grazing fields.

The "Slea Head Drive" ends up back in Dingle Town, so we stopped to visit a few of the shops and have lunch.

We headed back to Murphy's Pub for their "pub grub."

And for dessert, just up the street at Murphy's Ice Parlor, the clever Irish offer you the chance to get drunk on ice cream with the offer of two powerful flavors--- "Bailey's Irish Cream" and "Chocolate Whiskey" and, of course, we supported the Irish economy and made the purchase. 

As we were leaving, we noticed the tide was out on Dingle Bay and people were out digging in the mud for what we presume would be clams or mussels.

Instead of taking the main road back to Tralee, we thought we'd be brave and take the higher "Connor Pass" road back. Other than being a steeper and windy climb up the mountain, it was a nice wide road.

When we got to the top at the "Connor Pass" we had a great view down the mountain.

And Sue got right up to the fence to get the view all the way down.

Way off in the distance, we got a long view of the Atlantic as it enters Brandon Bay.

Then, as we headed down off the mountain, we discovered why it is considered a "scenic route." The easy climb on the way up turned into an extremely narrow and winding, single lane road. As you met cars, you pulled right up to the edge of the cliff---and pulled in the side mirror---for all to get by.

And some of the drivers just zip along like they were on the freeway (as we cringe on the side of the road, hoping we won't be paying for the replacement of our side mirror or worse).

The sheep weren't nearly as scary as the hot rod drivers, but they were there from time to time as well to keep the driving even more "interesting."

When we could take our eyes of the road it was still a very pretty drive.

And there was still time back in Tralee to get in a swim at the hotel pool and have a light supper in the pub.

Then it was on to celebrate our cousin Jack's birthday as seen in the gala photo below:

We hope your 91st year brings you nothing put "good times" and "good health."